Dr. Carman holds a Ph.D. in botany from the
University of Texas, and has conducted wide-ranging research in
phytochemistry, looking at the function of secondary plant organic
chemicals, such as phenolics, alkaloids, and terpenoids. His
interest in chemicals carried over into his work as an inspector
from 1980 through 1992 for the Odessa office of the Texas Air
Control Board (the former state air pollution agency, now within the
Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality). While at the TACB, he made more than 200 annual plant inspections,
documenting air pollution law violations and advising on compliance
plans. In the years since, he has worked as a staff member for the
Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, and as an advisor to the
Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention. Through his
work at the state agency and non-profit organizations, he has been
involved in diverse efforts to clean up cement kilns, hazardous
waste and medical incinerators, concrete batch and hot-mix asphalt
plants, aluminum die-casting plants, copper smelters, rendering
plants, coal-fired power plants, fuel tank farms, and many other
facilities.